PEST Analysis

What is PEST/PESTLE?

PEST/PESTLE stands for the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors that impact a company. These are known as “external factors”.

How can I find information on PEST?

You can find a complete PEST country analysis report using Marketline. Conduct a country search to locate a PEST report.

Tip

If the PEST country analysis (via Marketline) does not contain useful information, consider splitting up each letter or factor separately, i.e. "P – political", and do research on it using the recommended tools below.

Consult the following tools to consider each P.E.S.T factor:

• Political - identifying the political factors that may impact your venture or industry, i.e. government laws and regulations
• Tools you can use:
  • Business Source Complete (articles)
  • Factiva (articles)
  • Nexis Uni (click "Country Information" under "Guided Search", select a country and source)
  • Passport (reports)
  • Trade association websites* (regulatory)
  • Public company filings (via SEDAR)

*Be sure to uncheck all databases, with the exception of Associations Canada.

• Economic - analyzing the economic factors and how these factors may impact your venture or industry, i.e. exchange rate
• Tools you can use:
  • Conference Board of Canada (reports)
  • Passport (reports)
• Social - examining the demographic, social, and/or consumer trends that could impact your venture or industry, i.e. social norms
• Tools you can use:
  • Passport (reports)
  • Statistics Canada: 2021 Canadian Census and previous censuses
• Technological - identifying the trends in innovation, usage of technology, access to technology that could influence your venture or industry, i.e. R&D or patents
• Tools you can use:
  • Business Source Complete (articles)
  • Canadian Newsstand Complete (articles)
  • Passport (reports)

Tips when searching for articles

• "*" is a truncation symbol for variation word endings
• Boolean operators, AND, OR & NOT are used to connect search terms
• For searching help, click the "?", "Help", or "Tips" buttons on any of the trade journal databases.
• Consult these video tutorials for additional tips: Finding Articles on a Topic, Better Searching Using AND, OR, NOT